History of Us: Thunder Child
by ajremix
Summary: History of Us Arc, pre- to during Mega Man 1. Watching the world unfold around you, you can try to ignore reality, but that will never change what is. Elec, 1st Generation Robot Masters, Wily
1. First: Hardships

Thunder Child  
First: Hardships  
  
by Lady Virgo  
  
  
  
"Seeing the light  
flicker far off  
Brave the night  
Shine, shine"  
  
///  
  
"...DRN#008: Elec. Designation: electrical specialist, alternative power source. All systems check."  
  
The aged face cackled happily, clapping his hands. Behind him, he could see another, plumper man, an unruly beard of pepper poofing off his chin.  
  
"Good, good." The first man said. "Do you know who I am?"  
  
The information had already been accumulated and recognition flashed in his mind. He had known who he was already, even if he hadn't known that he already knew. If he had been asked before hand, he wouldn't have known until he was told to remember what was already pre-inscribed in his memories.  
  
"Dr. Albert Wily. And that is Dr. Thomas Light."  
  
"Very good." With a wide, Wily turned triumphantly to his... cohort. "Well? What do you think? All six of them, up and running without so much as a pause."  
  
The other just turned away, a disapproving frown on his otherwise detached face. "So it seems." He uncrossed his arms. "Elec, why don't you go to the main room, acquaint yourself with your 'brothers'. One of them will have a set of clothes for you. I trust," he said with a brief pause, "that you know the way."  
  
Without a word, Elec slid off the table, padding quietly after his dismissal.  
  
Before he even left the room, the doctors were already arguing.  
  
It didn't take too long to get to the main room, there sat five other bioroids, one with a small pile of folded clothing by his side.  
  
They all looked up as he entered, standing to greet him.  
  
"So you're finally up, huh?" Said the largest one. His broad shoulders seemed to take up half the ceiling, amazingly well-balanced on much slimmer hips and legs. His large hand on Elec's shoulder nearly encased the upper half of his back. "I'm DRN#004, Guts."  
  
He already knew. He already knew all of them just before they each introduced themselves. But, he decided in an odd way, he might as well humor them. Introductions seemed an integral part of society, much to his newborn confusion.  
  
Only one didn't stand to shake his hand, and that was the one sitting next to the clothes. "Here," Fire waved a hand to the pile, "put these on."  
  
Elec's lips twitched slightly. The least he could have done, he figured to himself, was hold them out. But something deep inside told him that something was wrong with the flame haired robot. Oddly enough, he could feel an immense heat emanating from the taller bioroid, even from the thick gloves he wore on his hands.  
  
He picked them up, leisurely looking through the articles, cataloguing them. As he picked up the trousers:  
  
"Okay, I've made lemonade for everyone in case he-EEEEEK!" There was the crashing of glass on carpeted floor and all six turned to see a young, blonde haired girl turning away, bouncing and flushing brightly behind her hands. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were up yet!"  
  
From the sides Bomb and Cut snickered and Elec felt heat well up in his own cheeks. Though he had no problem at his own nudity, simple cause and effect tended to make one shy of themselves. With a scowl, he briskly lashed the claps of the pants around his waist. "Okay, I'm decent, now." He said tersely.  
  
Cautiously, Roll turned, peeking from between her fingers as Elec struggled into the white t-shirt given to him. "I'm sorry." She apologized again. "I really, /really/ didn't mean to... you know... look."  
  
"Don't worry about." Was all that he could come up with. The others still snickered behind their hands at him. Even Fire had to hide a grin behind his hand.  
  
"Ah! Roll!" A young voice said from the behind her. "What happened? Look at this mess!"  
  
She pouted cutely. "Rock~," she said with a flat look, "because you wanted so badly to make sandwiches, I had to come out here first!"  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
With a growl, she pinched his cheeks. "Elec was getting dressed, you jerk! Because of that, you get to clean this up!"  
  
"What?" Rock finally managed, freeing himself from his sister's deadly grasp. "How come?"  
  
"Because you were taking too long, I had to come out here first and had to see...." She trailed off, blushing again.  
  
"Huh?" The logic, or the allusion, for that matter, failed to make its way into Rock's dark haired head.  
  
"Mou! It doesn't matter! I say the mess is your fault, so /you/ have to clean it up!"  
  
"Wah! That's not fair! Roll~!"  
  
"Don't argue with your big sister."  
  
"You're younger than me."  
  
"I said don't argue!"  
  
Elec leaned up against a wall, chuckling into his palm. Well, so much for making a lasting, first impression.  
  
....a /good/, first impression, anyway.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Elec enjoyed spending his time working, being idle made him bored. And after the first couple days they realized, his being bored tended to be somewhat... dangerous towards others.  
  
His mentality, as the others had quickly learned was: If I have to be bored/miserable/doing something I hate/etc., etc., why should I be the only one? So he was put to work on the house.  
  
Yes, actually /on/ the house. He made it more energy efficient, cut the electricity bill down impressively, fixed all the plug-in appliances, speed up computer connections and re-powered an old generator to be three times more powerful. After the first week, he was the first of the robots to be commissioned by someone else. Even Dr. Light was impressed with his ability.  
  
Though not the friendliest of bioroids, Elec's sharp sense of humor and quick wit made him rather well liked with everyone. Even with Fire, after a few false starts, the two became bantering partners of sorts, one of the few that the flame creator would freely talk to.  
  
However, out of all of them, Rock was the one Elec liked spending the most time with. Despite the time difference between their activation, Rock treated him like he was his big brother, always wanting to play and laugh, coming to Elec whenever he need help or wanted to talk seriously. For a bit, Roll got a bit jealous because Rock was suddenly ignoring his 'big sister', but Elec explained to her that it was 'guy talk'. Though that wasn't what convinced her to let it alone, it was for the fact that, even though Rock had a 'big brother', Roll was still that one that he got in trouble with, always the one that he wanted to help out. And that was fine with her. So long as she could still scold him, it was fine.  
  
These days, though, Elec had taken to spending his free time with Fire, lounging around on the roof.  
  
"Shouldn't you be working?" Fire asked, idly. He wasn't much for conversation, but he had the rare occasion to actually start one.  
  
"Eh." He shrugged. "I'm gathering energy."  
  
"You're hardly solar powered, you know."  
  
"Hush. Photosynthesizing."  
  
Fire's lips pulled back in a snicker despite himself. "Of course. I suppose I should tell Roll to come up twice a day to water you. Do you have a preference in fertilizer?"  
  
"Yeah. Do you know if they make chili dog flavored ones?"  
  
"I'll be sure to ask around for it."  
  
The two suddenly found themselves peering into Guts' sharp eyes. "Hey, Fire." He rumbled. "The doctors want to see you." The good thing about having Guts around was that he was tall enough to look onto the roof if he stood on tiptoes. "Do you need help getting down?"  
  
"No." Fire replied, standing and brushing himself off. "I'll be fine." As a rule, no one ever touched Fire. It wasn't just for the fact that he didn't like being touched as it was that the doctors told them never to.  
  
As the older bioroid left, Elec narrowed his flashing blue eyes. He had always wondered why the scientists called Fire in, day after day, and never gave him work to do. Not that he was jealous, after all. Elec not having anything to do was a bad thing, remember? Making up his mind, Elec hopped off the roof, slinking over to the main computer room.  
  
He had a way with computers. Not so much as programming or anything, but he knew intimately the flow of energy and used it to his advantage. Crossing a few wires, he managed to reroute the camera system to the lab into the living room.  
  
Carefully, Elec made his way there, turning on the television, eyes widening to the view in front of him, shown at various angles.  
  
Fire lay on the lab table, stripped, system on suspended, chest open all the way from the thorax to the navel. Both scientists stood over him, in heavy suits and thick gloves, guiding machines equipped with scalpels, screw divers, wire clippers and scissors around the table.  
  
"What.... What are they doing?" He asked the TV in confusion.  
  
"What're who doing what?"  
  
With a noise that sounded suspiciously like a startled squeak, Elec jumped to his feet, slapped the TV off and whirled around, trying to hide the screen with his thin body as if it were still on.  
  
Cut and Ice looked at him, arching a brow.  
  
"Oh, come /off/ it, Elec." Cut said. "We know you can re-route things after you merged our TV signals with the neighbor's cable so Bomb could watch porno." He suddenly looked thoughtful. "Unless, of course, you're hiding it because /you're/ into it and you don't want anyone to know."  
  
"Of course not!" Elec snapped. "It's just... nothing for kids to see, all right?"  
  
"Oh?" Ice asked. "And just /who/ is the youngest, here?" Behind him, Elec could feel the television turn on again as the tiny robot tossed the remote over his shoulder. "Don't think we're children just 'cause we're built small. Now move, kiddo."  
  
With an aggravated frown, Elec reluctantly stepped out of the way.  
  
It took a moment, but the two gasped.  
  
"Wh-What /is/ this?" Ice managed to get out, watching as the two men dug the machine's around in Fire's abdomen. Well, what was left of it.  
  
"....definitely not porno." Was all Cut could say. Elec felt inclined to say some smart-assed remark to that, but decided against it.  
  
"It's apparently what the doctors have been calling Fire in for every day."  
  
"But... what are they doing to him?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Don't you ever ask him?"  
  
Elec frowned at the 'tree trimmer', as he had been so 'lovingly' dubbed by the other bioroids. "Of course I have. But he always ignores me ever time. I wonder, really, if he knows what they do to him, as it is."  
  
"I'm sure he does." Ice said. "I mean, why would they do anything to us without telling us what it is, first?"  
  
Elec shrugged. "I don't know. But why haven't they told us about /this/, yet?"  
  
Neither had an answer.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
They didn't let on about what they knew. After all, it was kept a secret from them for a reason. The only other person they told was Bomb. Guts was a good, dependable guy, but he was also rather simple minded- most of his brain being taken up to move his impressive girth so only a small portion was given to common sense. Bomb, however, was Ice's best friend and tended to know exactly when something was kept from him. He was a very perceptive sort.  
  
However, even from seeing what they had, they still didn't know just what was going on. It didn't take that much persuasion, but a bit of hinting, to get Elec to do the job, after all, he was just as curious as the rest. It did, though, take a lot of thought to figure out how exactly he was going to go about it.  
  
As was typical of any other brilliant scientist, the doctors had to have kept a journal of some sort. The question was, in which terminal was it kept? And how exactly would Elec go about to crack it open?  
  
After two days of planning, he finally went into action, rerouting the images from the cameras in the main room to see where they exited. From there, he found out which computer they used and then came the tricky part.  
  
It was much easier to splice around array data than it was hard digital. But, with Ice's help, he managed to maneuver the network from the terminal they were working at into the central star network inside the lab. From there, it was just a matter of time until they finally...  
  
"Got it!" Ice called out. The other three quickly crowded around the computer, trying to squeeze a look over his shoulder.  
  
"What's it say? What's it say?"  
  
"Hey, quit pushing!"  
  
"I can't read it!"  
  
"Quiet!" Ice hissed, skimming through the information. They had apparently broken into Wily's journal, he tended to be much more flourish and wordy with his writings. "It says.... Hang on, hang on." He ran a finger over the screen, immediately throwing out the useless words and trying to form the reconstructed sentences in his mind.  
  
"What? What is it?"  
  
Abruptly, Ice sat back, a stunned look on his face.  
  
"Ice? What's wrong?"  
  
"Something went wrong in his construction." Ice said. "The generator inside of him keeps on generating heat, and the conductors are overly sensitive, so it says. It's been getting worse each day and they're trying to figure out what's wrong. But every time they look at him, everything they do seems to have no affect."  
  
They looked at him with apprehensive eyes. "You're saying..."  
  
"Fire is being burned alive. And anything he touches will be burnt up with him."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Perhaps knowledge really is a dangerous thing. Especially when no one is suppose to know that you know what you're not supposed to. They tried not to act differently around Fire, they tried not to act nicer, or more worried around him, but it was hard to. Every time they saw him, or one of the doctors asked for him, they'd flutter about nervously, wondering if he was fine. And when he returned, they tried their best not to seem so concerned.  
  
One day, though, there was a small accident. No one really got hurt, but it was enough to make the scientists panic.  
  
Fire was working on re-tarring a section of the road not far from the house. He had taken off his gloves- which managed to insulate the heat -in order to quicken the process. However, a driver had ignored the caution signs and came hurtling down the street. And straight at Fire.  
  
He was down on his knees when he saw the car coming, not having enough maneuverability to get out of the way. All he had time to do was hold his hands out and catch the front bumper as it plowed into him, the force driving grooves all the way down to the engine.  
  
Bomb, who had been on a nearby section of the road, had seen what happened and knew what was going to happen. He tore the car door off its hinges and dragged the frozen man out of the vehicle, ripping the seatbelt as he went. With his rounded body built to handle explosive stress, he covered the man as pieces of car went flying around them. And, in the midst of it all, Fire stayed, hands outstretched, shocked at his own, potentially fatal mistake.  
  
The doctors ran out the moment they heard. The man suffered only minor bruising, too shocked to even move his mouth. Bomb had only superficial cuts and burns. Fire, however, was literally aflame. The force of the explosion had torn at his clothes that protect outside elements from his burning body. The speed in which his blood coursed in his veins conducted the flammable chemicals even faster, turning his conductive skin prime to light up and the sparks and flames from the burning wreckage turning him into a walking pyre.  
  
It wasn't the doctors that wanted him back in his hydraulic capsule. After the ordeal, leaving Fire badly shaken and shocked beyond belief, he had requested to be put in suspension until they could figure out how to help him. Right in front of the others. Only Guts was confused at the entire exchange, but everyone else was stunned at the request.  
  
In the end, though, Wily and Light were more than willing to put him under, just in case something else would happen.  
  
However, they couldn't think of what to do. And so, there was only one thing that they could do.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
He'd never seen him look so shocked before in his life, so shaken.  
  
"They're taking away Fire!" He said.  
  
What could he say? He didn't really know what to do. When he thought about it, he didn't even really know him to begin with. They were brothers, of course, and possibly even on the verge of being friends, but...  
  
"What're you talking about?" Was the only thing that would come out of his mouth.  
  
"Fire..!" Cut repeated. "They went up to Fire, took him out of his capsule and just hooked him up to their main computer and began downloading!"  
  
Elec couldn't help but continue to stare in disbelief. "What do you mean?"  
  
"They're getting rid of him! /That's/ what!"  
  
He froze, the information slowly sinking in.  
  
Fire? Downloading? Taking him away?  
  
They were going to get rid of him?  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I don't know." Cut said, looking so lost. "No one knows why, they didn't say anything."  
  
Elec looked up at Guts and Ice, the two as obviously confused as him.  
  
"You're kidding. Why on earth would they do that?" Ice asked.  
  
"Because..." he shook his head, trying to think. "I don't know. They won't tell us anything and they won't turn on Fire's matrix, either."  
  
"They can't do that. Why would they do that?"  
  
Guts looked doubtful. "Is it because he keeps burning? Is that why?"  
  
"That's not his fault!" Ice cried. "He can't help it! /They're/ the ones who made him like that! They put him in the capsule until they could figure out a solution, anyway!"  
  
And that makes a difference how? Elec had wanted to say, but it wouldn't come out. Nothing would. It didn't seem real, it didn't seem right. It was almost like a dream, where he just... couldn't seem to understand that... this was happening.  
  
As the others warred with each other on the reasoning behind this... odd event, what the possible reasoning could be, Elec stood up from his place at the work table and walked out of the room, down the hall, along the metallic corridor and into the containment room.  
  
There, near the rear wall of the room, stood Wily and Light, hunched over a computer terminal surrounded by bits of metal pieces and next to them, draped in wires and connectors, long frame bent over in a way too unnatural for his straight silhouette, was Fire.  
  
And it hurt... a lot. Seeing him hunched over like that, slack, lost of his familiar strength and confidant poise.  
  
Elec didn't really get a chance to know Fire very well to be sure, but he was a good guy, someone Elec had begun to respect and admire like he had no one else. Fire was harsh, straightforward, blunt to the point of brutal honesty in its finest form. But he was never overbearing, he never snapped out except in the rarest of cases, his demeanor demanded respect, whether you liked him or not.  
  
And now... he had to go?  
  
Elec growled to himself, or at least tried to find some energy deep within that wasn't completely frozen up in shock to do so.  
  
Because Fire stood there in a sullen silence, unwilling, but passively taking the process. Though he wasn't fully 'conscious' through the whole procedure, standing with his circuits exposed and wires clipped together and spread out, fluids drained and blocked from the open panel on his back and collar and head, Elec could see it in his dead eyes.  
  
Why me? Why are they doing this to me?  
  
I don't know. Elec thought back. Did /they/ say anything? Don't you know what's going on?  
I don't know. Fire echoed, burning eyes dim and glazed. I don't know.  
  
And all Elec could do was stand there and do nothing. 


	2. Second: Abduction

Thunder Child  
Second: Abduction  
  
by Lady Virgo  
  
  
  
"Do not fade  
child, be strong  
Whispers the song  
'Come on, Thunder Child'"  
  
///  
  
  
"Well...." Elec said after a long pause. "We've finally finished."  
  
The other four bioroids could only beam with pride on their work. It took them three months. Three months to complete such a grandiose building that would have taken a regular contractor over two years to do. In fact, it had long since passed the point of being called a building. Now it was more like a mansion or a castle.  
  
Or a fortress.  
  
They had found it odd when Wily had gone up to them three months prior, telling them that they were to build something several miles on the outskirts of town. They didn't understand why, so far away, even looking at the size on the blueprints, it seemed a bit out of the way. But, as they transferred it into a real, three-dimensional thing, they finally understood. It spread over a good 40-acres and rose over two miles up. It impressed even them to have it up and running in such a short amount of time.  
  
Though, probably, the oddest of all, was the fact that Wily told them not to let Light know just what they were doing and if he or Rock or Roll asked- to lie. Not that it really meant anything. After their activation and a short period of time afterwards, Light never really even looked at the six bioroids, asides from the work he put into Fire.  
  
After a while of speculation, the five that had worked on the building finally decided that, given the structure and the rooms they had to construct, it must have been something for the military. Light never enjoyed actual, /real/ violence and didn't want anything to do with any sort of fighting force.  
  
"Well, boy-os," Elec said, dusting off his hands, "let's tell the doc we're finished."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Something was wrong, his internal clock told him. He'd been suspended for far too long, even for a minor systems overhaul.  
  
It was a... room, that was much was certain. A rather barren, small thing. He sat up, realizing that he was laid out on a stripped bed. Elec looked around briefly. He had remembered being put into his containment capsule when Dr. Wily had said that he was going to upgrade his system, to give him a little extra boost.  
  
"And then I wind up here." He said to himself. "Where ever 'here' is."  
  
He heard something faint from the other side of the door. Curious, yet cautious, Elec slid over to the metal slab, listening intently. It sounded like something was calling for something else. Preparing for anything, he waited until it sounded like the thing had passed before he-  
  
*WHOOSH!*  
  
*WHUMP!*  
  
-Or he could just touch the door, have it slide open on him, making fall into whatever it was on the other side. That works, too.  
  
"Ow." With that intelligent remark made, Elec pushed himself up to see what exactly it was that he had accosted.  
  
Cut looked up at him, eyes wide, slowly softening from surprise to relief.  
  
"Elec... I-I thought everyone left me..." he sniffed. "I thought you were all gone!" And promptly latched onto Elec, bawling into his chest.  
  
Well, he may look like a child, and he may act like a child, so Elec only supposed he would react like one, too. Out of conditioned response, Elec patted Cut's back.  
  
"C'mon, Cut." He said. "Maybe the others are here, too."  
  
"You sure?"  
  
"It wouldn't hurt to take a look, now would it? Do us more good than just sitting around here, anyway."  
  
With a nod, Cut stood up. Then stopped.  
  
"What? What's wrong?"  
  
The shorter bioroid pointed speechlessly to the door that Elec had fallen out of. Beside it was a small plaque in which was engraved three letters and three numbers that simply read: DWN 008.  
  
Elec blinked, looked again, leaned in close, and blinked again to see if it was a trick of the light. "What is this? That's not right. I'm DRN 008, not DWN."  
  
"E-Elec..."  
  
"What?" He looked around. The doors that lined the walls nearby each had similar plaques, their numbers decreasing.  
  
"Elec..."  
  
"What is it, Cut?" Elec snapped. He hadn't meant to, but this... /place/ was starting to weird him out.  
  
"Y-Your shoulder..."  
  
"What about it?" He craned his neck to look at them. On his right shoulder, barely visible from under the sleeveless white shirt and black vest, he could just glimpse some sort of mark. "What the hell?" He tried to get a better look and was forced to resort going back into that room to find a mirror. There he tore out of his clothes and turned around, glancing at the reflection out of the corner of his eyes.  
  
It took a moment for him to make it out in the dim lighting of the room, but there, tattooed on his shoulder blade: DWN 008  
  
"What... is this?" Suddenly he turned to Cut. "Take off your shirt." He commanded.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Just do it!"  
  
Elec was beginning to lose it, his lightening colored eyes shimmering. It was more fear that made Cut obey him than anything else. He pulled his shirt over his head and turned around before he was instructed to. There, in the same spot as his own, was DWN 003.  
  
"Elec?" Cut asked cautiously, daring only to move his head.  
  
The other was in shock, not even noticing him. "What the hell is going on?" He jerked his head around, as if hearing something Cut couldn't. "Come on!"  
  
"What? Where are we going?" Cut paused to pull his shirt back on before stumbling after his half-dressed brother. "Elec, wait!"  
  
He seemed to know exactly where he was going, Cut thought. How did he know? Where were they going? Where were they, period?  
  
They ran through countless corridors, all with the same dull, metallic gleam. Elec's legs moved like pistons, effortless, tireless, and Cut had to struggle to keep his pace. By the time he had finally caught up, puffing slightly from the effort, Elec had come to a stop inside a large open spaced lab.  
  
Eight tables were set up; various instruments, computers and read-outs hooked up to each. On three of the tables lay a body: Guts, Bomb and Ice. On two more were piles of metal, one that shone polished black and bolt gold, the other the color of gleaming red-orange. The walls were lined with computers and monitors that spilled a glowing shadow on the floor. Manning one of the stations was a tall, lanky form in hard, steel gray armor, a small fire crackling out of the helmet, cut like a compensator. The form turned at their entrance, voice filtering clearly out of a metal mouthpiece.  
  
"Oh. You're here."  
  
The two looked uncertain before Cut ventured: "F-Fire? Is that... you?"  
  
"What are you doing to them?" Demanded Elec, more than ready to drop all formalities and familiarity should Fire decide to turn against them.  
  
"I'm doing just as I was told."  
  
"Who told you to do this? What's going on?"  
  
Fire swept a hand towards the two tables currently occupied by the piles of armor, the power around the metal flickered on. "Get on."  
  
"No."  
  
"Get on." His tone didn't change, but the intensity increased.  
  
"No. Not until you tell us what's going on."  
  
"All I know," Fire said, "is what I was told. And all I was told was to bring you to the fortress and to prepare you."  
  
"Prepare us? For what?"  
  
"What is none of your concern. Nor is it my place to question."  
  
The perfect soldier: To do what one is told to the best of their abilities, without question, without hesitation, no matter the dangers, and without loyalty to anything other than the one who orders and the mission at hand.  
  
The perfect soldier is /not/ what Fire was. He questioned, he wanted to understand, he did only what he felt was right, what should be done.  
  
Unless it dealt with Wily. He asked no questions, he gave no pause. He did as he was told, when he was told to do it.  
  
Elec's blood ran cold. "D-Dr. Wily... was he-did he..."  
  
Fire's eyes flashed and he growled in a way neither Elec or Cut thought he could. "Get on the tables!"  
  
"Fire!" Cut pleaded. "What's wrong with you?"  
  
"Just do as you're told and everything will become clear!" He approached them, stance aggressive and dangerous, causing the two to move back in fear. "It would have been easier if you two just stayed in suspension until I got to you. But that can be taken care of."  
  
"Fire... Fire, don't-don't! WAIT!"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Light-otosan," Rock whined from somewhere amidst the tackle of luggage. It wasn't so much the weight of it that made his movements awkward as it was the instability of the pile. "Where are we going?"  
  
"We're going to our new home."  
  
"New home? But I like /our/ home now!"  
  
"But this is a nice place. Quiet, beautiful, where no one will bother us. Wide open sky, lots of trees, a huge yard for you to play in..."  
  
"How come Elec and the others can't come with us? How come we didn't invite Dr. Wily?"  
  
"Now, Rock," Light said gently, patting his thin shoulder, "Alfred is a busy man. He has enough to deal with with the others around. Do you really want to bother him?"  
  
He hesitated. "...W-Well..."  
  
Light smiled. "It'll be fun, Rock. I'll even help you build a tree house, okay?"  
  
The robot beamed. "Promise?"  
  
"First thing."  
  
"Hurray! Come on, Roll! Hurry, hurry!" In a whirl of energy, 'extended family' forgotten, Rock bounced off.  
  
Roll, however, walked up to her father. She, being programmed with many feminine instincts, could see that Light was hiding something.  
  
"Why did we leave so suddenly?" She asked. "We didn't even have time to get everything out of our old home."  
  
Light turned serious eyes on her. "I already had everything important moved out of the lab. And I have you two. That is all that matters."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Wily cackled and rubbed his hands together in delight, almost bouncing in his glee. "Beautiful." He said. "Simply beautiful."  
  
Behind him four figures flanked him, their bodies encased in armor, eyes dark and merciless as they waited for the final two.  
  
From the lab came a sharp crackle of electricity and the harsh gleam of a blade's pure edge. Wily couldn't help but to grin as they walked closer to him.  
  
"Welcome to the Robot Masters. Elec. Cut."  
  
And they just watched him with loyal, heartless eyes. 


	3. Third: Unreal

Thunder Child  
Third: Unreal  
  
by Lady Virgo  
  
  
  
"Be true of heart  
Be fair of soul  
Do not become lost  
engulfed in dark"  
  
///  
  
  
He landed with a roar and a mighty crash, dirt and crushed rocks filling the air and blinding them both. But he didn't stop, throwing blind punches into the cloud where Elec had flipped through. Because of their reckless aiming it was no problem in trying to avoid the attack, but it was just as dangerous for their randomness.  
  
Elec's smaller size and weaker build was a handicap in this fight, but he had a better sense of his skill, he knew just how fast and how agile he really was. And, better yet, he knew just how much of it he would need in this fight.  
  
The only key, Elec thought to himself, side stepping a stray punch through the dust, is to keep him from hitting me. The moment he lands a hand on me, it's over.  
But that didn't mean that he couldn't touch Guts.  
  
His control was that born of a martial artist or a gymnast. A physical prowess and muscles that obeyed any command he gave it, it showed that he was the last created, all obvious flaws of his predecessors weeded out so that he may excel. He flipped over Guts' outstretched arm, bounding up it like a beam to spring upon the flat surface of the giant robot's great brow. Elec braced his knees against the crevice of Guts' neck and shoulders and cupped his hands focusing his attack between his palms.  
  
Guts could feel the air around his ears pop as the air became tense and excited, awaiting the final mark of their game. With a grunt of exertion, Elec pushed one hand down, forcing the sizzling electrons, bright with activity, into the back of Guts' head.  
  
It wasn't much of an attack, but then Guts' blood wasn't something Elec wanted on his hands. But it was strong enough to put him out of commission. The electricity was concentrated just enough to spill over Guts' armor, seeping in between the seams and into his body, disrupting the flow around his positronic brain, temporarily shorting it out. With a stifled groan, Guts went down to his knees before falling flat on the practice grounds, Elec easily tumbling off and onto his feet.  
  
From where he observed the fight, Wily clapped. "Good! Very good, Elec!" He appeared to jot down some notes. "Next, Cut and Bomb."  
  
Somewhere inside of him, something wanted to object. He didn't know what it was, railing against everything and himself, and he wanted so badly to... question? Understand? Elec took a spot along the side of the large training court, shaking his head.  
  
The fortress, which the five bioroids had spent their time building no more than a month prior, had come to be known as Skull Fortress. Its long corridors stretched and turned in on itself in the form of a giant crescent. In the middle was the training field, formed in a circle fashion much like a coliseum, thrice its size and divided into sections. Lines like cross hairs divided it into quarters, each one having a rectangular field marked off 200 yards long and 50 yards around the circumference of the entire area dug into a ditch that went about knee high to an average sized human so the non-combatants could stand out of the way. Along the walls of the arena, high above the field and jutting out from the building like a pillar, molding into the metal, was Dr. Wily's seat. The top half nearly completely encased in a tinted glass, it overlooked the field, speakers lined up so he may direct the bioroids in their deadly play as he analyzed their performance.  
  
For three weeks the six bioroids stayed at the fortress, fighting most of the day, spending the rest of their time building. No that Wily no longer had to hide his true intentions from robots, willing to do what they were told, but always curious, they began to create the meat of Wily's plans. The entire fortress that had already been built would sit upon an extensive lab, all underground and encompassing the entire area: a complete, giant circle, built around several powerful generators and a massive, central core that was built directly into the epicenter. Towards the rear of the fortress, the only outside opening to the combat arena, was a thick, lush forest. Over several hundred meters behind that, they were beginning construction on another, smaller building filled with other highly sensitive equipment for- as Dr. Wily had said -experiments that would be potentially hazardous or destructive.  
  
The fortress, Wily's plans, even the change that he and the other Robot Masters had undergone all screamed 'WRONG' in a muted part of his mind. But then, it was always drowned out by feelings of undying loyalty, unable to force an original thought through the swarm of allegiance and it was burying him alive without him knowing.  
  
Elec tilted his head back, to look all the way into the swirling blue of the sky and see nothing else. Because, with all the hidden turmoil inside, there was nothing else.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
He lay in is room, watching something invisible behind the ceiling, eyes glazed and inwardly tired. From the back of his senses, he could hear something that faded in his ears, rattling with his slow, deep breathing. It was running, a sort of easy laughter that rung, echoing louder as it played off the walls.  
  
Slowly, almost as if he were dreaming, Elec's head fell to the side, his unfocused gaze turned to the door. The happy specter leapt outside in the halls, playfully trying to coax something from Elec, trying to get his mind to grasp the form that his eyes refused to see.  
  
It glimmered around the edges, incomplete lines that tried to contour their way to something that belonged, something important that was missing, that he was unaware of even losing.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
His eyes snapped opened upon sudden command. The world was overlaid with green and blue and yellow, swirled together and pockets of air that bubbled and struggled out of his sight. His vision didn't so much as ripple as he moved as it did swell, too thick to swim, too fluid to hold.  
  
With one slow, deliberate movement, he tilted down his head, eyes focusing on the person that stood patiently in front of him.  
  
His mouth formed words, tongue and teeth moving around the thick liquid he knew was there, but didn't. He could feel the pressure as he moved, how the capsule's gel pressed against him, but had grown used it during his suspension.  
  
"...Wily-sama..."  
  
The old man smiled at him in showy contentment. "Elec. I trust you're feeling well?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"Good, good." He reached over with a long, thin arm and pressed a button on the console besides the capsule, letting the fluid drain out.  
  
It was an odd moment, part floating, part placed with no weight pressed on any part of you, just buoyed up, then to have your feet touched on something you couldn't really feel and then feel gravity pushing you down, heavier and heavier.  
  
For a moment, he almost believed that he couldn't bare the weight.  
  
The door to the capsule hitched out with a hiss before sliding up, allowing Elec to step out, greenish fluids running off his body and pooling around his feet.  
  
"We've come across a problem in your memory databanks, Elec." Wily said, holding an electronic notebook to his face. "It seems that the integral overhaul I did on your system caused some odd cross-signaling. You've been having odd visions and 'memories' because of it. Right now I've just done a temporary patching. It'll be fine in a while, but I wouldn't doubt the visions come back within three weeks. If you start feeling disoriented or they start coming back before then, come see me. I'll be looking at your schematics, figure out a way to fix it all up, okay?" He gave Elec a bright smile and a fatherly pat on the shoulder. "Now, you just go and join the rest of your brothers."  
  
"Yes, Wily-sama."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
He was more aggressive this time. Wily-sama had said that he was being too slow and kind, that he needed to dominate more. He was the most advanced and greatest built so far, so it was only fitting that he did dominate over the others. In some cases Elec was the unannounced leader of the six. The only one whose presence rivaled his, whose voice would stop everyone in its tracks and demanded to be obeyed was Fire, but he didn't care enough to take the position of power. Power to Fire was just a show and leading had no real position in the rung of the hierarchy. It was rumored, for a while, that Fire only obeyed him because it was convenient and that he could overthrow Elec if he so wanted to. But years passed and Fire obeyed just as he always had, and the rumor was soon forgotten.  
  
And so Elec became more aggressive in his stance and his training because he was told to. He flipped backward as the ground shook and clouded over with dirt and tossed earth. He could feel the great displacement of air as it pushed against him, not even a second before a giant fist came hurtling from some random direction to hit at random spots of emptiness. It wasn't a problem to avoid the strikes as most of them were no where near his position, but they were close, and if he was caught by any of them by chance, he was done.  
  
He was much smaller and weaker in build, but he knew his skills and limitations, and he knew how exactly to use it in such a fight.  
  
The control he had over his body was that of which any serious athlete would love to have. His body would bend to his every whim and could move in ways the other bioroids would never be able to. It was this control that made him superior to the others.  
  
He sprung upon Guts' arm as it stretched out in the minute pause between extension and recoil. Elec ran up the limb lightly, leaping from the rectangular joint of the armor of his shoulder to the broad-backed shoulders and focused in on his attack. The air became alive with bouncing electrons, hyper active and ready to execute the command given to them.  
  
It wasn't as strong an attack as Elec would've normally used, but this was merely training and, as he punched the dancing electricity into the back of Gut's head, he diffused it enough only to temporarily stop the energy flow to his brain, causing him to black out. Elec jumped off, landing nimbly on his feet a few yards off.  
  
The arena echoed with Dr. Wily's clapping from his booth above the ground. "Good! Very good, Elec! Next, Cut and Bomb."  
  
With a nod, Elec acknowledged his dismissal and turned on his heel, ready to leave the arena when something tickled at the back of his brain. Something was bothering him, the world all too familiar to have just happened. It was like... it was like...  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Elec stepped out of the lab, blinking at the bright lights of the hall. Even with all the lights illuminating the computers in the lab, spending so much time in suspension made his eyes sensitive to the light. Dr. Wily had said that there was only a slight problem when his system was overhauled, but it should be better for a while. Temporary, maybe experiencing some odd memories, but nothing too overwhelming.  
  
But... he couldn't help it. Something felt wrong inside of him, as if something was missing, or he was just empty where he wasn't supposed to be. A pang went off within his head, like a raging desperate river that was pressing against a dam stressed and ready to give at any moment.  
  
There was something off...  
  
He looked around and saw someone, someone that shouldn't have been there. He just smiled from the shadows, red-armored, face half hidden by a mirror-tinted visor.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
He vaulted over Guts' outstretched punch, running up the arm to leap onto his broad shoulders. Elec was pressing, for once, against his opponent, almost reckless and wild with some seething emotion. His lightning blue eyes glowed as he snarled, arms brought back and he could feel the fine hairs on his body stand on end under his armor as electricity crackled between his hands mercilessly.  
  
He was going to let it loose, he would've killed Guts if he did. But he stopped. No reason, no indication that he would, he just let the electrons stop suddenly in his hands, face masked with surprise, as if he didn't even realize that he stopped himself. And, really, he wasn't even aware of what he was doing.  
  
It all seemed so foreign to him, yet so familiar. It was something that he seemed to know like a dream that wanted to be remembered, but he couldn't even remember ever having to dream before.  
  
Guts' great hand suddenly appeared in his vision and clamped around his smaller built body before he could react.  
  
The match was over.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
It was searing into his brain and it refused to be stopped. Elec curled against the corner, the sheets of his bed were torn and tossed across the room, everything breakable was broken, anything moveable was tossed aside. And still the pain moved Elec to need to hurt something in response, hoping that another in pain, or another broken object would ease his own suffering.  
  
The red hot lines seared behind his clenched eyelids, trying to forms words that Elec's brain refused to allow.  
  
No... that wasn't Elec that was trying to stop it, it felt... more like...  
  
He screamed as the pain increased. He couldn't take it, the war going on in his head. One side had to lose and he wasn't sure if the survivor would be him.  
  
The door to his quarters swished open and he looked up fearfully. There stood Fire and Bomb, fully armored and looking at him with unsympathetic eyes.  
  
In all rights, Elec shouldn't have known what they were going to do, but he feared because the thing in his mind told him to. "No..." he whimpered, "please..."  
They approached him, not paying any attention to his pleads.  
"Please... don't! NO!"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
He was on the table, this time.  
  
He didn't even know why he took note of it. Or even what 'this time' was in reference to. Elec knew he wasn't supposed to be aware, but he was and something inside told him that he should remain so, take in as much information as he could.  
  
He could hear Dr. Wily moving out of sight. He clattered thin fingers across an unseen computer. "Why is this happening... What keeps doing this to him? Stupid, how can he keep accessing..."  
  
They both heard it, but Elec- whose consciousness seemed to be drifting -barely heard it. A low sound, like the beginning of a song- whistling.  
  
"Damn you!" Wily shouted, yelling at the computer screen as if it were the cause of all the problems in the world. Perhaps, in Wily's world, it was, in a way. "How dare you defile my creation! How dare you even /show yourself/ in my fortress! Goddamn you, Blues! I'll tear you apart, you useless scrap heap!"  
  
But, at the time, it didn't process in Elec's mind. He just lay on the table, staring sightlessly up, the bloody light of the laser scalpel shining into his eyes. And he forgot. 


	4. Final: Forgiveness

Thunder Child  
Final: Forgiveness  
  
by Lady Virgo  
  
  
  
"Hold tight your true  
self. Let not the  
song sing, 'Farewell  
Thunder Child' "  
  
///  
  
....Are you still there?  
  
[ I'm always here. ]  
  
Oh.  
  
[ Sorry to disappoint. ]  
  
Whatever.  
  
[ I really am sorry. I didn't mean to land you in the labs so many times. ]  
  
I know...  
  
[ Hm? ]  
  
I know... I /know/ I've been here before but I... I can't /remember/!  
  
[ I know. ]  
  
/How/ do you know? Who /are/ you?  
  
[ I'm the failure. I'm the one that he wishes he could forget. But I won't let him. ]  
  
Who are you?  
  
[ I am your predecessor. I am Blues. ]  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
He hunched over the controls by Elec's capsule.  
  
"I know your plan, Blues. I won't let you have him." Wily growled. "I won't let you turn my strongest creation against me. I will win! I won't lose to you any longer! BLUES!"  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
[ Such a noisy old man. ]  
  
What are you doing?  
  
[ I'm just making sure the perimeters I put around your memory banks remain intact. ]  
  
So... you're not inside my head?  
  
[ God no. Not as such, anyway. ]  
  
What does that mean?  
  
[ The old man should've known that I would've realized what he was doing. This fortress  
might've been concealed enough and far enough away from the city so that no one else would realize it, but I know this area like none other. ]  
  
What're you talking about?  
  
[ While your oh so loyal brother was off getting one of your other brethren to manipulate, I came into the lab and rigged up a connection to your capsule. ]  
  
Mine? Why mine? Why not anyone else?  
  
[ Because you're the strongest. You're the most capable Wily's created yet. Having you bent to his every whim like the others would be far too dangerous. ]  
  
Then... are you the one causing all these problems?  
  
[ No. ]  
  
No?  
  
[ You are. ]  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Wily slammed a palm against the console, frustrated and furious. For the third time... /third/ /time/ he had to recall Elec because of Blues' manipulations and he couldn't figure out how he was doing it! /WHY?/  
  
With a strained sigh, he fell back in his chair to think.  
  
He was obviously tampering with the memory constraints that Wily had put up and from the scans he had gotten back, there was obvious movement in Elec's network showing outside interference. So then /where/ was it was /coming from/?  
  
He didn't have the time to worry about it right now. The more time he kept Elec in that capsule to fix him up, the stronger Blues' interference became. He had to put a stop to this. Right now.  
  
Wily pressed a button and spoke into the intercom. "Ice. Come to my lab immediately."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
...I don't believe you.  
  
[ Believe what you want. It's the truth. ]  
  
How do I know you're not the one lying to me?  
  
[ You don't. ]  
  
I don't trust you.  
  
[ I wouldn't trust me, either. If I were in your place. ]  
  
Then why did you even do this?  
  
[ Because I'm not going to just sit by and let the old man have his way. I'll defy him at every turn. Using others, if I have to. ]  
  
You're a pretty cold guy. No wonder you're considered a failure.  
  
[ I'm only a failure because I wanted to think for myself. ]  
  
I don't believe you. I was never told about you.  
  
[ Because if you told, wouldn't you want to ask questions? ]  
  
...  
  
[ Wouldn't you want to know why I left? Why I was a failure? Why they hate me? ]  
  
...  
  
[ Questions aren't what either Wily or Light want. They just want unhesitant loyalty. ]  
  
Wily-sama... really put a restraint program on our memories?  
  
[ Yes. ]  
  
So we'd forget Dr. Light? Rock, Roll, everything that's happened?  
  
[ Essentially, yes. ]  
  
But... but I can /remember/! I remember waking up in another lab, meeting the other Robot Masters, talking with them... I can remember when Cut made himself a bike to ride, when Guts frightened away those Girl Scouts at the door, when Fire got hit with that car... I can remember it all!  
  
[ What's the color of Rock's eyes? ]  
  
Wh-What?  
  
[ What's the color of his eyes? What does it sound like, Roll's laughter? What time does Light go for his evening walk? What color was the house? Tell me, Elec, since you can remember. ]  
  
I...  
  
[ Hm? ]  
  
I...  
  
[ You can't, can you? ]  
  
N-no! I could, I swear I could! But then, when I tried to... it went away. Like smoke...  
  
[ Wily used a very subtle programming. If he just wiped your memories away, you'd realize that you're far older than your data says you are. You'd get suspicious. All he did was keep your memories, but build layers on them, to keep you from actually /remember/ them. Rather ingenious, I suppose. For him, anyway. ]  
  
Tell me...  
  
[ Hm? ]  
  
Please... tell me the truth...  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
"Wily-sama." Ice said, sitting at the controls next to Wily, still reconstructing the constraints in Elec. "I think I found where the intruder is coming from."  
  
"What?" He turned away from the computer. "Where?"  
  
The small bioroid pointed to the screen. "Here it shows that there was outside activity in his neuronet but there are no further activities recorded. I decided to run a check on his capsule, just for security reasons and I've found that an uplink has been created on the capsule itself. He's been using the wiring of the capsule to hide his movement."  
  
His back and shoulders shaking with rage, Wily bushy eyebrows came down in a hawk-like point above his sharp nose. "Where is it?"  
  
Ice turned to the container and pointed.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
[ Shit. ]  
  
What?  
  
[ They found me. ]  
  
What??  
  
[ Hn. Took him long enough, the old coot. ]  
  
What-What'll happen?  
  
[ He'll break the link, I'll be unable to contact you further and he'll do whatever he pleases. But he won't be able to break my encoding so easily. ]  
  
But...  
  
[ Listen, Elec. It doesn't matter if you don't believe me or not, but listen to me. I'm saying this because, more than likely, you'll be fighting my little brother, your older brother. And I'm saying this because you're my brother, too. Don't fight what's going on in your head. The encoding will keep your original memories in tact and unmanipulated. It may take a while, but you'll be able to fully access your memories. Then you can decide who's right. I'm putting my trust in you, Elec. Don't make a mistake that'll get countless people killed. ]  
  
Blues?  
  
  
  
Blues?  
  
  
  
BLUES!  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
He woke up, once more, to find Dr. Wily leaning over him, a triumphant grin on his thin face. Something nagged at the back of Elec's head, but he ignored it. He had a feeling he'd realize what it was before too long.  
  
"Wily... sama..." he choked out, the thick fluids around him feeling alien, unable to recognize just where exactly he was.  
  
"Feeling a bit disoriented, Elec?" The human asked with a bit of a sneer in his voice. "But that's to be expected. You see, I found the reason why your memory banks have been impaired. There were some unrecorded flaws in the manufacturing of your capsule than I have just realized. I've done a few recalibrations to Ice's capsule in order to support your unique system. Of course, because it's not the exact variables that your actual capsule has, you may be able to tell the difference. I apologize for that."  
  
"I understand, Wily-sama."  
  
"Good, good." His eyes narrowed, sending a delayed shiver crawl down Elec's spine. "I'll be keeping a close eye on you, Elec. You're the last one I want anything to happen to."  
  
"Yes, Wily-sama."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
From his position miles away from Skull Fortress's scan area, Blues let out a snort, lifting his chin from his cupped hand and pulling the receiver from his ear.  
  
"Looks like this little excursion was a failure." He said aloud to himself. "Ah well. Can't say I didn't try."  
  
Standing, he cast a thin smirk towards the fortress. "Don't think one dead end and I'm done, Wily. I still have plenty more tricks up my sleeves."  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
It was odd, being able to remember two completely different things of the same moment.  
  
He could remember being activated and seeing Dr. Wily and his fellow Robot Masters. But he could also remember being activated and seeing both doctors watching him expectantly. And he could remember the other bioroids before they became the Robot Masters, and the 'incident' with Roll. He had to quell the urge to shake his head and snicker in embarrassment.  
  
But he could also remember when the others actually cared. Not being totally mindless dolls, doing only what was required of them. He could remember the times they worried over Fire, how they all laughed when Guts got stuck in the doorway because Bomb bet that he couldn't fit through a regular sized door. Or the time Ice asked Cut to make a nice bouquet so he could give it to Roll, or the games they played with Rock and all the wonderful dinners they shared together. It was like having a family. And this?  
  
This wasn't.  
  
But they all accepted it. /He/ accepted it. They could because they didn't remember what it was they missed. But Elec knew, he understood. Somehow, he knew those memories that he suddenly found himself holding so dear couldn't have been created. They couldn't have been manipulated. The feelings they invoked, the fondness, the nostalgia, they couldn't be faked. It was... it really was Dr. Wily that was deceiving them all. But he was just letting it happen.  
  
Elec clenched a fist. He was worse, because he didn't do anything. Expelling a deflating breath, he sagged against his chair. And what was worse was the he /wouldn't/ do anything. Because no matter how much he knew, how much was changed in him, one thing still burned fresh in his mind and wouldn't be subdued by any of his sensibilities: Dr. Wily was his creator, and he would follow anything he said with undulated loyalty.  
  
He watched the computer screen dully. He was on watch, making sure no one tried to sneak into the fortress while Wily was away and the other Robot Masters were switched off to conserve their energy cells. All there was for him to do was to think. And the more he thought, the more he remembered and the more frustrated and angrier he became.  
  
Damn Blues. Damn him for making him aware, for making him realize that things weren't as right as he had believed. Damn Wily for manipulating them. And damn himself for being the one to decide his fate from here on out.  
  
It wasn't a good day, fine. But everything... everything since he became a Robot Master, since he remembered the life he once had, he couldn't help it. He turned to the five occupied capsules and said in a loud, clear voice that fell on deaf ears: "I hate you all", before he turned back to the computers and continued his silent vigilance.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Busy, busy, busy, Blues thought as he clacked away at the keys to his laptop. Cutting edge technology his ass, the thing was so limited in its abilities. Of course, the salesman sold it as the best computer built to date and Blues bought it. Because it /was/ the best computer built to date, but that didn't make it as efficient as he would've liked.  
  
"Looks like we're gonna have to do some unofficial upgrades." He told it, patting the frame in condolence. But then again, it's not like big industries would mass-produce computers piled up with the greatest tools and programs for high-class hackers. But, it would have to do.  
  
And it was doing very well, if not just because of the skill of the user. "Bingo." He said with a thin, humored smile. Skimming through the information before him, Blues quickly came across what he was searching for. Giving the screen a dark grin, he sent a copy of the information elsewhere and covered his tracks before he stood, scarf flapping back in the wind.  
  
"Well, now that that's taken care of," he checked the compartments of his armor, making sure the five chips were in place, "time to unravel Wily's mind twist." Whistling to himself, he set off. Thanks to his uplink with Elec, he managed to download the entire fortress's security system into his computer, planning how to get in and out unseen. Light could play the hero and delay the Robot Masters long enough for him to sneak inside the lab and place the chips in the other capsules. Once the chips acknowledged a specified bioroid's presence, it would attach to the back of the neck and inject a needle, placing a special coding into the cerebral cortex. From there, well, it was only a matter of time until the head manipulation broke apart and the truth came out...  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
It was an odd feeling that Light had quickly come to grow used to, tucking away young children that weren't even alive. They looked to be around 12-16 years old, but generally acted around 6, mainly because their mindset was so much younger than many other young teens. Technically they didn't even need to sleep, but their systems needed at least a couple hours reprise each week, but he sent them to bed like any other parent would do for their children.  
  
And, like most parents, he was set to get some serious work done in the few hours he had to himself before he would be forced to sleep, as well. As he entered the lab, he found his computer had already been activated and something was pulled up on the screen. In fact, several things were and something was being scrolled through as it was...  
  
"Upload?" The scientist looked at the document as the information went by. "What is it? Who could've...?"  
  
His eyes caught the importance of the document. His eyes widened and his breath caught.  
  
It was a plan. An invasion plan.  
  
By Alfred.  
  
With a sharp breath, he pulled back. With a trembling hand, he searched the other items that were uploaded on his computer. Status facts, plans, blueprints, positioning, armaments... all the plans for what would be titled the first year of the Robot Wars... And the diagrams for a set armor, compact, highly efficient, durable and ingeniously designed, calibrated especially- the document claimed -for Rock. Designed by Blues.  
  
'Because I know you'll send him out there', it further stated, 'and I don't want my little brother to get hurt. Even if it is to fight our own brethren. But it's not their fault, nor is it their choice. And if you decide to take the cowards' way out of trying to explain his mission to him and manipulate his memories just as Wily did to the others, the old coot won't be the only one you have to worry about.  
  
'Wish him luck for me.  
  
'Blues'  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
It didn't feel right, no matter how he tried to convince himself that he was just following orders, like he was programmed to do. He didn't really attack those people, the rules that bound his actions refused to let him. But, he couldn't deny that humans /did/ die as the Robot Masters overran the place.  
  
Elec clenched his fist. He was angry, but he was powerless to stop it.  
  
"What can I do," He asked himself, "against the man that gave me life? I know that what he did was wrong, but I can't stop him. Not alone. I don't want to fight, not someone I that care about."  
  
He stood there, in the center of the arena created for him, and waited.  
  
"I don't want to do this."  
  
It wouldn't be too long until Rock came to him, from the accounts of the other Robot Masters.  
  
"I can't fight Rock."  
  
But Wily was watching him, tense and edgy, waiting for his dream to be realized.  
  
"I can't deny Wily-sama."  
  
Blues slipped easily into the lab, shadowing behind Wily's back and reaching the capsules easily. Already a few of them were occupied by beaten Robot Masters.  
  
"What can /I/ do?"  
  
Something flickered through his chance, born from the experience of both memories.  
  
He raised his head proudly.  
  
Rock entered the field.  
  
He would fight for Wily, just like he was told to. But after this, he go back to his brothers, and he would make them understand what he did. They will become the same brothers he had originally come to know. And maybe then they could make a family again.  
  
But first, he would fight.  
  
And as he charged at Rock, whose face became pensive at the sight of one of his brothers preparing to fight him, only one thought entered his head:  
  
Forgive me. 


End file.
